Botham wants Cook to move aside

Former England allrounder Ian Botham feels captain Alastair Cook should take some responsibility for the national team's poor performances in the Tests against the West Indies after the Three Lions could only manage a one-all draw in the Caribbean last month.

Coach Peter Moores has already paid the price for England's poor form on the field when he was sacked by new ECB Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss on Saturday.

Botham though says the coach cannot take all the blame for what happened on the field as Cook with all his experience should have made more of a difference.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mirror, Botham said: "It is time for Alastair Cook to move aside and take some of the responsibility for the mistakes that have been made over the last 18 months.

"He has seen off almost all the coaches and management from the debacle Down Under (2013-14 Ashes whitewash), he has seen (former director) Paul Downton come and go and now Peter Moores, yet he is still captain. How does that work?

"Moores appears to be the man taking the flak and responsibility for what happened in the Caribbean but didn't the captain pick the team too?

"The coach has been axed, part of which is down to a lack of international nous. Well, I want to know what Alastair Cook is doing with 100-plus caps worth of Test match experience, because I'm not seeing it."

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